DRINKING WATER

Discover why clamp-on flow measurement provides a much more reliable and accurate reading compared to other methods.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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Accurate Metering For Every Water Consumer’s Habits
Utilities looking for greater billing efficiency and control over every drop of water consumed by their customers face a constant battle with non-revenue water loss, which can be compounded by different metering technologies and consumer behaviors. Using accurate, always-on, continuous-sampling meters to take full advantage of automated smart utility networks is a better way to improve decision-making and achieve accountability goals across any circumstances.
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Repair Of Failed Bolt Coupling Connection From Pit Cast Iron Pipe To High Density Polyethylene Pipe
On December 25, 2017, a leak was reported to the Colorado Springs (Springs Utilities). The Crew members excavated and exposed the pipe discovering a leaking 24” bolted transition coupling joining 24” Cast Iron Pipe to 24” High Density Polyethylene Pipe. Read the full article to learn how JCM Industries worked with the utility to repair the leak in a timely manner.
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Produce Potable And Pharmaceutical Grade Water From Problematic Brackish Water
A pharmaceutical manufacturing plant located in Sedom, Israel faced challenging environmental conditions including low humidity, temperatures exceeding 105 degrees Fahrenheit and limited water supplies.
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Seawater Treatment Yields Process Water For Power Plant
A power plant in Egypt needed to use seawater from the nearby Red Sea as feed water for its plant processes. This case study shows how Fluence designed and built a new seawater demineralization plant that includes an ultrafiltration pretreatment, reverse osmosis, and mixed bed ion exchange.
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How To Utilize Limited Resources To Address Water Loss During A Drought
Discover how to track water loss, analyze results, and standardize operating practices for your team with more efficiency.
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Aquatech Supplies 40,000 m3/day SWRO In Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) is responsible for constructing, managing, operating, and maintaining airports and air navigation infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. By Aquatech International Corporation
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Oxidation And AOP: The Last Lines Of Defense Against Harmful Algal Blooms
Secondary metabolites of algae — including algal toxins and taste and odor compounds triggered by a harmful algal bloom — can find their way into source water, creating the risk that they will ultimately reach the water treatment plant to cause water-quality problems. Here is a checklist of considerations for mitigating those effects through cost-effective oxidation, or combined oxidization processes, across a variety of source water conditions.
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The Story Of Your Data
Data gathering and analysis have become crucial across many, if not all, sectors of our economy, including the water sector. If you consider all the components of data analysis you can start to see its potential to positively impact decision making.
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How Can You Utilize Process Instrumentation To Save Money In The Treatment And Distribution Of Clean Water?
In municipalities, approximately 6 billion gallons of water are lost to leaks every day. In this article, discover a solution to water loss and excess energy costs.
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How Advanced Feeder Technology Mitigates Disinfection Dangers
Metering pumps have been feeding the treatment chemicals used to disinfect water and wastewater for many decades. However, this traditional liquid dosing technology is brimming with potential problems. By comparison, newer automatic liquid vacuum feeders have gained wider acceptance as a cost-effective alternative method for delivering chemicals.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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The Basics: Testing RO Quality4/28/2014
Osmosis is the phenomenon of lower dissolved solids in water passing through a semi-permeable membrane into higher dissolved solids water until a near equilibrium is reached.
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Analysis Of Pesticide Residue In Spinach Using The AutoMate-Q40 An Automated QuEChERS Solution10/16/2014
QuEChERS is a Quick-Easy-Cheap-Effective-Rugged-Safe extraction method that has been developed for the determination of pesticide residues in agricultural commodities.
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Hydrogen Sulfide Removal From Water Using AquaSorb® CX-MCA2/19/2014
The “rotten egg” odor in some water supplies is caused by sulfide in water. Sulfide can be treated using oxidation techniques, the goal being to convert the sulfide to high oxidation state species such as sulfate to eliminate the taste and odor concerns. Traditional oxidation techniques such as ozone and chlorine can be used, but can be expensive due to the equipment required to add and monitor the oxidant, and can lead to by-products such as trihalomethanes (THMs), which are regulated in drinking water supplies.
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Groundwater Remediation12/1/2020
Good quality groundwater is an important natural resource. It provides drinking water for the public as well as process water for industrial applications. Groundwater can become contaminated through a number of ways including improper handling of process chemicals or disposal of wastes.
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Hach FilterTrak 660™ Sc Laser Nephelometer Even More Practical For Ultra-Low Turbidity Monitoring6/7/2013
Now compatible with the Hach sc100 Controller, the FilterTrak 660 sc Nephelometer connects as a ‘plug and play’ sensor with the universal, dualchannel controller that features an inherent power supply.
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FLEX-TEND® Flexible Expansion Joints, Features And Specifications12/3/2020
FLEX-TEND® flexible expansion joints are designed to protect structures and pipelines from differential movement whether this movement is earthquake induced or the gradual motion of soil subsidence. This bulletin offers a concise listing and discussion of the important features and materials of the double and single ball assemblies.
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Cloth Media Filtration Removes Coal Ash And Coal Fines At Power Plants1/15/2019
Coal-fired power plants generate coal fines and coal ash from a number of sources, including coal combustion residuals (CCR), particularly fly and bottom ash from coal furnaces, and coal pile runoff during rain events. In support of an industry-wide effort to reduce, improve, and remove coal ash ponds, a variety of technologies have been tested and employed. Read the full application note to learn more.
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Flow Meter Enhances Chlorination System Performance For Municipal Water Department12/12/2017
The water municipality at a mid-size city in the Western region of the U.S. serving a population of about 180,000 people needed to address a chlorine disinfection system problem at one of its water treatment plants.
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Application Note: Real-Time Monitoring-Through Swell And High Water6/9/2011Application article about water quality monitoring pontoon providing continuous data in the Burry Inlet, an estuary in Wales. By YSI
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Removal Of PFCs With Activated Carbon12/30/2013
In recent years, various perflorinated chemicals (PFCs) have come under increasing scrutiny due to their presence in the environment, in animals, and in human blood samples. There are two major classes of PFCs: perfluoroalkyl sulfonates such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and long chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylates such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA).
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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Thomas Schumann is the founder of Thomas Schumann Capital. He is a sustainability pioneer and expert for water security investment and financial products, and a recent speaker at the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York from March 22nd (World Water Day) to the 24th.
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The U.S. EPA recently announced its proposal for what would be the first-ever national drinking water standards for PFAS. This news likely triggered several questions about what this means to the drinking water industry. Here, we will address some of the most important ones.
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The UN Climate Conference (COP27) might be over, but it’s time to see if leaders will act on the commitments they made at the event. Many agreements emerged from the two-week summit, with countries committing to creating loss and damage funds, holding institutions and businesses accountable, providing financial support for developing countries, and limiting warming to 1.5°C. But what precisely are some countries holding themselves accountable to accomplish? Here are some of the top COP27 initiative takeaways by region of the world.
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After three years of extreme drought, the Western U.S. is finally getting a break. Mountain ranges are covered in deep snow, and water reservoirs in many areas are filling up following a series of atmospheric rivers that brought record rain and snowfall to large parts of the region. Many people are looking at the snow and water levels and asking: Is the drought finally over?
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Global water usage has increased multifold over the recent decades due to various factors, including consistent population growth, changing consumption patterns, and fast-paced economic growth.
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An environmental engineer who develops techniques to remove PFAS explains what the proposed guidelines would require, how water utilities could meet these requirements, and how much it might cost to get these so-called forever chemicals out of U.S. drinking water.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.